Concept Design of Bowen Island New Build

This is a 3 bedroom home built for a couple of recent empty nesters. With that in mind, they have made the 2 extra bedrooms multi-functional so that when the kids do come and visit they have somewhere to stay, but they will be used as a office and a gym in the interim.

The location of the lot and southern orientation made it easy to achieve BC Energy Step Code 4. The large south facing windows will provide for bright interior spaces and solar heat gains to reduce heating demands in the winter. The owners wanted to limit impact on the environment as much as possible. As a result very little excavation will be required and the concrete foundations will be scribed and connected by dowels to work with the site topography. They also wanted a strong inside-outside connection. All the glazing combined with a continuation of materials internally and externally and flush surfaces, help to blur the line between inside and outside spaces. In order to future-proof the home and to protect it during heatwaves, the clients are installing a rainwater harvesting system with the majority of that water being used for their garden and outside needs instead of using potable water.

Due to unprecedented soaring material and labour costs, the clients were forced to scale down their original square footage. We were able to substantially reduce the floor area as well as implement a range of other cost saving features while retaining the character and main design features to make the project still possible.